Rusty Valve Covers Possible?

[daniel3507]

My uncle told me to use some oven cleaner to clean up the engine but forgot to tell me that its strong enough to remove paint till it was too late. so now there is some bare metal showing on one of the valve covers. how likely is it to rust and if it will rust bad is there anything i can do? i would like to avoid taking it off for paint if at all possible.

 

[bergz0]

spray or brush some grease on it or brush or pour oil on it to drive to preserve it.

 

[LittleHorse]

they can rust. Mine have a good sized area of surface rust where the paint has peeled off. One of these days I'm going to replace my valve cover gaskets because they drip like gonorrhea, and when I do I'm going to sand them and put a good thick coat of Ford blue on them.

 

[daniel3507]

...and when I do I'm going to sand them and put a good thick coat of Ford blue on them.

That was exactly what i was thinking. when i have the money and if it gets really bad just powder coat a nice layer of that beautiful ford blue on them.